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An interview with Mark Renshaw, October 21, 2008

Horizons broadened on shifting sands

There's a breed of rider that builds their career on the service of others.
This has been the case thus far for Australian Mark Renshaw. But as the disappointment
of one of cycling's oldest teams ceasing to exist has begun to sink in for the
peloton, it has provided him with an outstanding opportunity and the chance
to display the extent of his talents, as Cyclingnews' Les Clarke finds out.

George Hincapie is an enduring American favourite thanks to his support of
Lance Armstrong throughout the Texan's seven Tour de France titles, while Milram's
Marco Velo has seen 12 years of service as a professional workhorse for sprinters
such as Mario Cipollini and Alessandro Petacchi. He's often credited by the
latter for delivering his man to the line and as such is in demand come contract
negotiation time.

Velo has been national time trial champion in the past, as has Hincapie, and
both have enjoyed the odd win here and there. It's their ability to work tirelessly
and effectively for a star however, that has made them such popular riders.
In Australia, Mark Renshaw has enjoyed similar popularity due to his work ethic
and tenacious sprinting, both of which were formed as a junior track rider from
Bathurst, on the central tablelands of New South Wales, and honed in the Grand
Tours of Europe.

At this year's Tour de France Renshaw was lead-out man for Thor Hushovd, a role inherited
from Julian Dean, the New Zealander who has found his home at Garmin Chipotle.
Just like Dean, several aspects of riding for a French team didn't suit this
antipodean and he finds himself settling into a new squad in 2009 – Team Columbia.

"Once Crédit announced they didn't have a sponsor, I had to start looking
around because [Roger] Legeay had basically over a year to find one; if he hadn't
found one in a year I doubt he was going to find one in a month," said
Renshaw. "I started looking around, made a few calls... I know Allan Peiper
pretty well from the last few years racing, so I gave him a quick call and those
guys were confident Ciolek was leaving.

"Allan's seen me race a lot over the years, so we set up some meetings
and it was one of the more preferable teams to go to. It's just the way they've
dominated this year... they've got over 80 victories so far. To go to a team
with that environment is really going to rub off on me; thus far I'm a guy who
can win a few races a year, and if I go to a team like that I can't see why
I can't win 10 races a year."

"The outlook of Columbia is very different to Crédit; a lot more modern,
with a wider view."

– Renshaw on the differences between
his previous team and his new squad.

Hushovd to Cavendish

Renshaw's rise to sprint train 'marshall' was realised after Hushovd's
Tour stage win in Saint Brieuc. Flying down the right-hand side of the road,
the Australian mustered all his strength to help his Norwegian teammate to
the line, holding off the challenge of Team Columbia's Kim Kirchen. Later, after
an appearance on the podium, the green jersey winner at the 2005 Tour praised
Renshaw's efforts.

"It was a really hard sprint, with the wind in the finale and in the climbs,
but I knew it was a sprint that fits me well," said Hushovd. "My teammates
did a good job again, and especially Mark Renshaw. He was awesome until with
200 metres to go and then it was just up to me to do a sprint." It was
ironic, however, that the man beaten in one of Renshaw's biggest moments as
a pro may be the beneficiary of his services in 2009.

The man most likely to realise the full extent of Renshaw's lead-out capabilities
is Mark Cavendish, who beat Hushovd in four stages of this year's Tour. Taking
a young rider whose star has well and truly risen to the line is a potentially
daunting task, and this isn't lost on the 26 year-old Australian. "It's
a big step up, and hopefully I've been brought over to help Cavendish in the
Tour. He doesn't need any help, but I can take him [to the line] in the Tour
next year.

"I get along [with Cavendish] pretty well. I haven't caught up with him
for a ride since I've signed... I know him pretty well and I've done a few races
with him on the track; I'm only two years older than he is."

Team Columbia Directeur Sportif Allan Peiper is confident this will be the
case in 2009, and explained the plan the team has for Renshaw. "Initially,
part of the deal with bringing Mark Renshaw into the team was to be a locomotive
for Mark Cavendish or even Andre Greipel. Mark understands that – it's
just the pecking order at the moment. I've told him that there will be
times when we've got another program running and he'll have to step
up; he can, and he'll be expected to.

"He's won two races this year – he was second
in Hamburg and won
in Franco Belge against some good sprinters. I've seen Greipel and Cavendish
break through in the last year-and-a-half and find their place in the peloton,
in a few different aspects; how they position themselves and have confidence
in that in addition to confidence in reading the sprint. Cav didn't have
that last year, and it took him until this year in the Giro to do so.

Monaco and Mum...

Monaco is a popular place for Australian pro riders to live, and Mark
Renshaw is no exception. He has lived there since the early days of his
pro career, and has enjoyed neighbours such as Stuart O'Grady, Baden Cooke,
Matt Wilson and superbike world champion Troy Bayliss.

Bayliss often talks of his love for cycling, and uses it as training
for the rigours of riding a Ducati at 300km/h. The boy from Bathurst doesn't
mind spending some time with the boy from Taree. "I watched the world
championships at his place," said Renshaw during our interview.

"We did four hours in the morning together before I went home, had
some lunch and ducked over to his place to watch worlds. He's got English
Eurosport, so we watched that for a laugh. He's a tidy bike rider; and
for just doing what he does – four hours is the biggest ride he does –
he can mix it with you. You don't have to wait for him.

"He does a couple of mad moves every now and then; he's almost dropped
himself a couple of times trying to pull them off but most often he stays
upright."

Not content with watching her son compete at the highest level, Renshaw's
mother recently competed at the masters track world championships, held
in Sydney. "She's only been doing it a couple of years now and she
loves it," he explained. "I don't think there would be many
other pro riders whose mum races at masters worlds!"

"I'm going to have to get her some sponsors so she can get a better
bike and wheels. She's always asking me how to do things on the track.
For the first few years of my career she couldn't watch – the first national
title I won she didn't watch, she walked out. It was the scratch race.

"When I saw her later I asked whether she had seen the big move
around the outside on the last lap she said, 'Nah, I had to walk out.'
Now she's racing the highest level she can, which is good."

"Every race since the Giro he's known exactly where he's had
to be – he's not coming from ten back anymore, he's in the right position
and he knows when to go. It's the same thing with Greipel, which we thought
was going to be a little more difficult. He did well at the
Tour Down Under at the start of the year which is good, but when you get
back to Europe and there are different fields he's still been able to rack
up 15 wins. I think Mark [Renshaw] is just knocking on the door for that."

This is in contrast to the aforementioned Hincapie or Velo, whose roles have
been clear cut for most of their careers. It's a vote of confidence from a man
who honed his own skills under the watchful eye of Peter Post and the Panasonic
team; Team Columbia has faith in Renshaw to win races, not just help achieve
them. Peiper wants to provide Renshaw with maximum opportunity to win races
in different places, something his younger countryman is excited about, given
the 'stagnant' nature of racing for a French outfit, as he points out. "Next
year's going to be excellent; just doing a big programme with major races.

"The whole outlook of the team on cycling is different to that of Crédit
Agricole," continues Renshaw. "The latter is much more 'old school'
– there wasn't an interest in change, and it's been done a certain way for so
long. The team has won so many races doing it the old way, so the management
didn't see a reason to change. The outlook of Columbia is very different to
Crédit; a lot more modern, with a wider view. The team is always looking for
ways to change and ways to get better."

This is something reiterated by Peiper, who says that, "Nothing against
the team he's come from, Crédit Agricole, but I think the bar is a bit
higher in our team as well. Plus we've won 83 races this year, so it has
been raised very high. Even the races in the States are super important because
we've got an American sponsor, and we're doing ProTour races with
three sprinters... which is the triple attack we were talking about two years
ago.

"We said we'd try and have a couple of sprinters, and we've
still got Henderson, so actually we've got four sprinters we can count
on to take to different races; we'll always have a tactic, and we're
not just arriving at the races without any structure. I think the tools of the
team – SRM, aerodynamic equipment and testing – we use because they're
the best. We have good deals with all our partners and I think all those things
are really going to help get a couple of per cent advantage and make a bit of
a difference."

Now back in Australia, Renshaw hopes to maintain his legs over the off season
with another appearance at January's Bay Series Criteriums, where he'll be going
for three consecutive overall titles and getting a bit of, "punch and speed"
for the Tour Down Under. His programme in 2009 will be more complete than what
has been set in previous years, and given the prominence of Team Columbia this
may work well into his potential for selection in Australia's world championships
teams. Overlooked in recent years, the mantle of team sprinter may fall to him,
possibly on home soil in 2010.

"I was a bit upset not to get picked in the worlds team [this year], but
you can't sit on it and huff and puff. I showed I had good form in Hamburg,
but obviously the selectors only wanted to take Alby [Allan Davis - ed.] – who climbs better than
me – and Robbie [McEwen], who won Hamburg. They can't take any more than two sprinters,
so I can see where their point was. For me, the next goal would be the world
championships when they're in Melbourne. That's something I'm going to start
working towards over the next few years and it's a really good goal to have."